Original intro: Join us from 5.30pm UK time tonight for live coverage of Microsoft not announcing Xbox 720 at the Galen Center!

Well, yes, everything the platform holder has said so far points towards nothing happening on the next-gen front at its E3 conference this year.

However, that isn't to say we won't get some hints about the future, or that we won't hear about things like multi-screen strategy, subscription services and other evolutions of a business model that's about much more than just Halo and Gears.

Microsoft knows E3 is a core gamers' event though, so there will be plenty of the latter. Expect to see Gears of War Judgement, Halo 4, Forza Horizon and other first-party titles. Expect a lot of third-party stage demos, too - we'd be surprised not to see Call of Duty: Black Ops 2, for example, and Tomb Raider was a hit last year so why not again?

Hopefully they'll lay off all the Bing stuff this time, but Kinect will feature too. Just hold your breath for those bits if it's not your bag.

Robert Purchese, out in LA for his first E3, will be reporting live from inside the Galen Center, and Tom Bramwell (hello!) and others may be throwing in some updates too.

The other platform holder conferences this year both take place on Tuesday from a European gamer's perspective: Sony's is at 2am UK time and Nintendo's is at 5pm. Yes, those of us in the Brighton office will be suffering by then. Join us!

MS just lost me as a customer for the next generation, I'm not putting up with 3 exclusives for another 6 years. I'm out.Nintendo and Sony only from now on. It's embarrassing how little Microsoft has done now with 2 consoles, all they've done is get by with Halo and 1 good Gears game (2 and 3 sucked).

Yawn! I hate to be right but that was one predictably dull conference with very little that was genuinely exciting. And Microsoft still think exclusive DLC is more important than having exclusive games. Oh dear. As for Kinect... pfffffft!

Amazingly boring (and more than once embarassing) conference. As usual with MS, the only interesting bit was the new Halo. Though I have to admit I'm more excited by the arresting engine than by the uninspired action.

You can't be surprised at the show. Msoft are not good games developers, they rely on third parties. Tomb raider looks good, blacklist okay everything else was shit. Resi 4 and 5 were unplayable for me due to motion sickness and 6 looks the same.

That was utter crap for the third year running.Microshaft, consider my 360 gone. It isn't going to take much for Ninty to sell me on Wii U at this point, all they have to do is remember they're releasing a GAMES console and I'm there."Internet explorer"... Jesus fuck off you clowns.

@Kanyeezy: oh yeah, that was quality by matt and trey, to pull that gag on-stage! What on earth's gone on with Forza - on the horizon: all the licensed sports cars are smoking wrecks? I hope Ubi can bring something good later. That Blacklist? Nah. I want nothing of that.

That was painful. Other than the South Park trailer. I liked how they used the "new kid" angle, and the 4 main kid's costumes were v. good. That looks like a lot of fun. Call of Future Duty - seriously?

MS has not learnt from last years HOT MESS of a show, I WANT GAMES, like that dude from south park joked i dont care if it connects to my dishwasher while im flying a spaceship, i just wanna god damn play ! grrr, ok so a few surprises but nothing extraoridnary, i am left waiting for something and we end up with COD which was ok i guess, oh well at least we didnt have those annoying kids on kinect from last year ! urgh

I got more enjoyment from doing the washing up, and i hate doing the washing up.Joking aside, smart glass, total waste of time and goes to show why the Nintendo pad controller will be just as useless imho. No one wants to be looking at a device when doing something else.

I cannot believe how shit that was - as someone has already said do Microsoft actually like games? I'm fed up with them pushing all this kinect/movie crap, if I want to have a workout I'll go to the gym if I want to watch a film I'll rent a movie if I want to play games I'll turn on my Xbox... Oh wait

I got more enjoyment from watching nintendos pre e3 show then I did in the whole of xbox's two hour snooze fest I honestly kept saying to myself this can't be it they must be leaving the best until last maybe a sneak peak at the 720 at the end but nope finished on blops2 such a disappointment

So Halo 4 looked good and that's coming from someone who doesn't like Halo. Other than that Xbox seem to have taken on Sony's "It only does everything" philosophy. It's funny that after years of hearing "I don't want my games console to do TV,web browsing etc." from xbox fanboys that's exactly what we're all getting.

So..Rip off Nintendo and Apple, add sports services unavailable in the UK, show some cross format games and infect everything with Kinect and tacky pop music. Should have stopped watching after Halo 4, the South Park game sounds pretty cool though. Worrying amount of games content for a games machine, hope Sony And Nintendo smash it. Like how Nintendo have started with the system overview video and saved time for games. A new F-Zero and proper Pilotwings sequel for starters please...

Microsoft exec 1: "Hmm... the show will be a bit dry. We need something to spice it up."Microsoft exec 2: "Gamers like usher and dancing right?"Microsoft exec 1: "Fucked if I know! Lets just do it anyway"

dance central is good for what it is, but thats exactly why it shouldnt be here - everyone knows it already works, you can promote it with normal ad campaigns, but dont waste your E3 conference on that!

Oh Kinect, just F off PLEASE. And seriously, why has almost EVERY Kinect piece only used VOICE RECOGNITION. You only need one thing for that, A FUCKING MICROPHONE. No Kinect necessary, F off MS. F OFF.

Great, more fucking DLC announcements before the game is even fucking released. And first on teh Xbox!!! Well fucking done MS, keeping throwing your money at publishers instead of making some new fucking new games!

If MS down announce free online play then I'm sure most people wont think about using their 360 much... As said already it's ment to be a games console not a media center... Irony is wasn't Sony the media one orginally?

and really a fitness game? they REALLY want to be the next wii - Nintendo please just show awsome wii u games then MS can be as 'casual ore' they like... Hands up who is getting another format to PLAY GAMES?

Spike have to be more selective about who they interview. That guy had drug tourrets or something... An event on this scale doesn't just represent Spike, it represents gaming as a culture in the public eye.

I have a sneaking feeling that this year's E3 is going to be a disappointment. No doubt Microsoft will be pushing Windows 8, exclusive 360 DLC and Kinect, in others things I couldn't care less about. Still 35 minutes to go to be proved either right or wrong.

Most of the conferences are on UStream or YouTube live, making them embeddable, which makes it all the stranger that Eurogamer aren't offering feeds- it's not like they'd have to pay for the streaming.

Yeah killyourtv, i am surprised about the lack of E3 buzz on EG.. other sites seem to have a lot more information/downloads of key speech times, preview videos etc... quite disappointed, had to go to various other sites to get information.

Lol yeah Internet Curtains... only Nintendo can sell that as a feature I expect nintendo to have the best conference just because they are talking about new hardware. I still think Sony should have a strong conference, as long as all the news isn't leaked before it starts. Hopefully MS will do better than last years drivel.

Surely by now Eurogamer should be providing a video stream like all other major video game web sites.Sole text updates were antiquated years ago. They are good for people who aren't in a position to watch a video and need the quick text updates.However, a video stream should run alternatively.

Prediction for this years E3. 1. Nintendo will win hands down!2. Sony will do a great job as always. 3. Microsoft will do a lot better then last year. (They better since the Xbox is my primary gaming console)

@spacewarriorThe casual market is hard to grasp, but Apple has them in a stranglehold pretty well. Microsoft is looking to do the same and has seen how to from Nintendo. Microsoft's real focus will always be Google and Apple in the broader perspective.

@kassmageant: There's an App called "XBOX Live Event (Player)" or something the conference will be streamed through. If the conference isn't advertised on the dash, you'll likely find the player in the App Marketplace

15:25By Tom Bramwell

15:42By Tom Bramwell

Less than two hours to go now. Word from VG247 is that we won't get to see Phil Harrison rumbling on-stage during the Microsoft conference, which is a shame. I expect Don Mattress is a virtual certainty though.

16:34By Oli Welsh

16:36By Oli Welsh

Forza Horizon-branded cars just drive past - a yellow Lamborghini Gallardo spider and a BMW 6 series drop top. Then Turn 10's Dan Greenawalt walked by with Ralph Fulton, creative director at Playground Studios which is making the game. I got to visit Playground and see the game a couple of weeks ago - look out for an in-depth story after the conference.

16:41By Oli Welsh

By the way, Matt and I will be joining the legend that is John Teti for a podcast this evening to discuss the Sony and Xbox conferences. Should be available by the time you wake up in the morning.

16:44By Oli Welsh

On the shuttle bus from the hotel we sat next to EA tech bod Richard Hilleman - "EA's Carmack" according to Matt. He was drawing technical diagrams on squared notepaper. Probably the next Xbox. Awesome.

16:52By Tom Bramwell

17:07By Robert Purchese

Hello you cheeky readers you! It's Bertie and we're in position at the Galen Center for Microsoft's E3 conference. EA top dog Peter Moore is seats along from us, armed with his fierce, Ming the Merciless stare.

17:10By Robert Purchese

There's a giant central screen and two adjoining displays that could be ears, if you think like I do. The lights are bright, Xbox green. There's a boxy and intermittently bubbly animation playing on the screen. Beats are a-thumping from the meaty sound system.

17:11By Oli Welsh

I think it's actually the same set as last year.

17:12By Oli Welsh

Hard times.

17:14By Robert Purchese

The huge teleprompter is in plain sight of us, which is brilliant. Can we steal Microsoft's thunder? It doesn't say anything about Next Xbox yet.

17:15By Robert Purchese

No sign of anyone from Sony snipping any important Microsoft wires...

17:20By Robert Purchese

I wonder how much electricity is being cumulatively used by all these screens, laptops, phones, cameras, lights and robots. ARGH. A loud female robot voice boomed a safety warning.

17:23By Oli Welsh

17:24By Robert Purchese

Microsoft US bigwig Aaron Greenberg just sauntered past our row. No sign of a next-generation console under his arm.

17:25By Robert Purchese

Announcement to take our seats. The briefing will begin in five minutes.

17:26By Robert Purchese

Ha! We're to turn off mobile devices and flash photography. I can't see that happening.

17:27By Robert Purchese

"Ladies and gentlemen, please take your seats. The briefing is about to begin, thank you."

17:34By Robert Purchese

A giant, orange-glowing ball. Now gameplay footage. Is this the game's opening? Chief trecks through a tropical forest. There's a guttural roar. It looks very clear and sharp. The comedy Covenant scouts, with their stumpy limbs. Chief eradicates them.

17:38By Robert Purchese

17:39By Robert Purchese

Xbox 360 is now the number one selling console worldwide. It's not - Wii has sold more. But hey ho. He's talking about bringing all kinds of entertainment together on one device. Says we're going to have the greatest line-up of games ever this year, led by Master Chief and Halo 4.

17:39By Robert Purchese

Gameplay trailer. Is this Black Ops 2?

17:40By Robert Purchese

Talking in a different language. There's a bearded man saying something we don't understand and then, BLAM. The player beats the snot out of him. He's an agent!

17:40By Tom Bramwell

Mattrick also said that "this holiday" Microsoft will be extending the Xbox experience beyond the screen onto PC, tablets and mobile.

17:41By Robert Purchese

17:42By Robert Purchese

We're being told that the Blacklist is in enemy hands. We're on the Iraq border. Sam Fisher must capture and interrogate a leader to stop the next Blacklist attack. It's very brutal - Fisher stabs an enemy. Slow-mo! Fisher executes like Jack Bauer on steroids.

17:42By Oli Welsh

The guy in front of me is REALLY excited about Sam Fisher's return. He air punched and everything.

17:43By Robert Purchese

"That's killing in motion." It's an ability Sam Fisher has to kill on the move. Another throat slit, quietly. Fisher crouching as if on the toilet. Kinect voice recognition - the man talks to distract the enemy. The audience claps.

17:44By Oli Welsh

Fisher Fan is letting out soft whoops, laughs and cheers at every execution. It's creepy/sweet.

17:45By Robert Purchese

17:46By Robert Purchese

Ah, the old camera under the door. Fisher bursts in through an exploded door, marks the enemies and kills them. Finds his mark, cut-scene plays. He's interrogating. Fisher looks young. The visuals are crisps. Sam lies about shooter the mark. And the trailer's over. The excited man in front is excited!

17:46By Robert Purchese

Shipping spring 2013. It's the most ambitious Splinter Cell yet.

17:47By Robert Purchese

EA Spots head Andrew Wilson takes to the stage. He looks as slick as ever, and a little bit like Tom Cruise. Madden and Fifa are to become better with Kinect, he tells us, his Australian twang apparent. He used to fight UFC-style in real-life, if memory serves me.

17:48By Tom Bramwell

The Ubisoft guys also mentioned that Blacklist will feature Spies vs. Mercs, for those of you who enjoyed that.

17:49By Robert Purchese

We're seeing FIFA. You can say "sub striker" and "sub three" and that's what will happen. "Formation one!" "Through me!" "Take a shot!" This is manager mode. "Yep, yep, ref - oh that's bleep!" Commentators hear this and say you reacted angrily. Available around the world this fall, autumn.

17:49By Robert Purchese

I wonder how colourful your ref language can be.

17:50By Robert Purchese

Joe Montana, an NFL quarterback, is on stage to talk about voice commands in Madden. Montana - no relation to Hannah - is going to demonstrate this.

17:51By Robert Purchese

kinky_mong says:

17:51By Robert Purchese

"This brings back some great memories, and I just might have an advantage being a quarterback with this Kinect stuff." Yeah, OK, Joe.

17:52By Robert Purchese

Now a trailer for Fable: The Journey.

17:52By Oli Welsh

Fisher Fan just booed the Fable The Journey trailer.

17:53By Robert Purchese

Spells are being flung. Oh good grief he's really got the magic in his hands! Kinect turns you into a real magician! Blue light! "Beware the magic." On a more serious note - it's a very core gamer-style video for Fable: The Journey.

17:54By Robert Purchese

Phil Spencer, head of Microsoft Studios, is on stage. He's got a black cardigan on. This will be the best year for Xbox 360, he says. I can see his speech on the teleprompter.

17:55By Robert Purchese

17:56By Robert Purchese

Now we're watcing Forza Horizon, the open world Forza racing game. Superb visuals and blistering pace. And very, very loud music.

17:56By Robert Purchese

DUBSTEP ALERT!

17:56By Oli Welsh

AUDI QUATTRO YES. I heart Forza Horizon. Big preview at 7, people.

17:57By Robert Purchese

Ow, ow, ow. Loud, loud, loud. Phew, it's over. October 23rd.

17:57By Tom Bramwell

Presumably the reason there wasn't any Gears of War Judgment gameplay was because they haven't had time to make anything yet.

17:57By Robert Purchese

Head of marketing and strategy Yusuf Medhi, the man who wrote a blog post recently about Xbox 360 at E3.

17:58By Tom Bramwell

"You say it and Xbox finds it." Oh not this again.

17:58By Oli Welsh

They're steaming through the new games here. Gears and Forza and Fable got short shrift. Something's afoot if you ask me.

17:59By Robert Purchese

This fall, you'll be able to Bing-find what you want to watch by genre. He's demonstrating this. "Xbox: Bing comedies." And the menu returns what he wants. "Xbox: Bing action." And so on. "Xbox: Killer Elite." You can choose from multiple providers to play the content. More language support - 12 additional countries this year. "We want the world to experience the magic of voice search."

17:59By Robert Purchese

It does look very responsive.

18:01By Robert Purchese

Great support in the US! Oh and BBC in the UK. Sob, sniff. Announcing more partners. Nickelodeon. Paramount Movies. Machinima. Univision - one for the Spaniards. Now he's talking about sports. Perhaps he could hurry up and get it over with.

axman303 says:

Anyone else reached 95% boredom yet?

18:01By Robert Purchese

NBA is coming to Xbox! Probably only in US. Does Michael Jordan still play? "Do you love hockey?" No no no. NHL is coming to Xbox.

18:03By Robert Purchese

ESPN on Xbox is "about to get even better". Later this year, you'll be able to watch ESPN all the time - all the channels. We're watcing a trailer. "Xbox is your new home for sports!"

18:09By Robert Purchese

18:10By Oli Welsh

18:10By Robert Purchese

Nike Plus and Xbox Live will help you find people to compete against. Here's a trailer for it. We're seeing people train but no gameplay.

18:11By Robert Purchese

Ah, here's gameplay. Your body is a glowing blue or green silhouette. It shows what you're doing alongside the trainer. These people are so happy that they're exercising! It's all the endorphins.

18:11By Robert Purchese

Here's the head of Xbox Live, Marc Whitten.

18:11By Robert Purchese

He bursts on to the stage talking about smartphones and tablets! Deflation.

18:12By Robert Purchese

He's very casual, with navy blue zip-up. Very shiny black shoes, though. He's going to show us a breakthrough in entertainment. Here's Xbox SmartGlass!

18:13By Robert Purchese

This links all devices that you own, regardless of brand. He's using a Windows 8 tablet to demonstrate. He was watching Sherlock Holmes, the movie. He part watched it. Now he wants to pick it up on the telly, so he sends it using SmartGlass. SmartGlass froze his tablet and sent show information to it.

18:14By Robert Purchese

He's using Kinect voice commands. "Xbox Favourites." "Game of Thrones." He really, really likes Game of Thrones. He thinks they blew their budget it's so good. He's watcing it on the TV and his phone and tablet are keeping up with what's going on via SmartGlass.

18:15By Robert Purchese

"This is the magic of SmartGlass, when devices work together to immerse you in entertainment." Hmm.

RodHull says:

What in shitting crikey is he on about?

18:15By Robert Purchese

Madden from EA Sports on screen. He's making a play using his tablet.

18:16By Tom Bramwell

We've been capturing video of all this in parallel, by the way, and hope to have segments like the Halo 4 and Splinter Cell bits up for you to re-watch shortly. (Er, we might leave the Nike Plus stuff alone though, if you don't mind...)

18:16By Robert Purchese

Halo 4. New Waypoint Data Unlocked and he's accessing the data on his tablet. I say he, but this is a trailer.

18:17By Robert Purchese

"This is the cool part." Wait for it! He can use his phone as a remote CONTROL!

18:18By Robert Purchese

Kinect and Xbox SmartGlass are bringing the web to Xbox. A browser. "Keyboards don't belong in the living room." He's announcing that Internet Explorer is coming to Xbox this year.

18:19By Robert Purchese

18:20By Oli Welsh

I think that whole Trojan horse thing with video games is over, people.

18:20By Robert Purchese

A fast, fluid and intuitive broswer in the living room for "the first time", he declares. Now he's taking us to the Aston Martin "web hub". You can control the page with your tablet or phone. It's easy to do this, it's easy to do that. It's easy to fall asleep, that's what it is.

18:22By Robert Purchese

He's talking about Windows 8 and Xbox. He's talking about taking all kinds of entertainment on the go with you. SmartGlass will be a part of Windows 8, too.

18:22By Robert Purchese

Bisson and Gallagher from Tomb Rainder studio Crystal Dynamics now.

18:23By Robert Purchese

We're seeing an action-packed sequence from later in the game. Lara has a crossbow, her hair is flapping improbably in the wind. She's being shot at. A lot.

18:23By Oli Welsh

Fisher Fan just went YAAAAY VIDEO GAMES. I'm with you on this one, brother.

18:24By Robert Purchese

She swoops down a zip wire. This action adventure game is heavy on the action. Lara's dirty. She smashes through a building and the enemies don't notice.

18:25By Robert Purchese

She's got a shotgun! She's shooting some barrels! Boom! Blood! Crossbow shhlunk. Into some rapids. She loses her grip and is swept away in a dramatic sequence. She's smashing into all sorts of flotsam.

18:25By Tom Bramwell

Aha, Ubisoft beat us to the Splinter Cell gameplay footage. It's up on YouTube and embedded in our Blacklist story.

18:26By Robert Purchese

She lands in the suspended cockpit of a crashed plane over waterfall. Tense music. Is she going to be ok? No! She falls. But ah, a parachute. No, it's not opened. Yes, it has now. She's smashed into trees as the parachute flies at the mercy of the wind. She's really taking a beating.

18:27By Robert Purchese

She's up on her feet, blood on her face. She's really hurt her tummy - something she ate? But, umm, where are the tombs?

18:27By Robert Purchese

The first piece of DLC for Tomb Raider will come out first on Xbox 360, hence the Microsoft conference presentation.

18:28By Robert Purchese

Phil Spencer's back on stage. He's got a pixel person print on his t-shirt. "We're investing in new stories." Twisted Pixel. Or from visionary director of Pirates of the Caribbean. World premieres coming up.

18:28By Robert Purchese

18:29By Robert Purchese

Men in armour scything each other apart. Lots of blood. It's third-person. Looks a bit dated.

18:30By Robert Purchese

Here's a giant enemy. He climbs its body like Kratos, and kills it. It's coming out in 2013.

18:30By Robert Purchese

Here's something from a school of assassination. Something called Iris. A robot? The first female cadet to break the 3 minute mile.

18:30By Robert Purchese

Twisted Pixel. 2013.

18:31By Robert Purchese

Now Pirates man Gore Verbinski. A giant futuristic city scape. Another orange glow, now blue. A bit Tron-like. Eyeball-like robots sizing each other up. The cityscape is changing. It's called Matter. It's made for Kinect. It's coming out 2013.

18:32By Robert Purchese

Capcom are on stage. Kobayashi and Sasaki. We're seeing Resident Evil 6. Leon's on the deck, struggling. He grabs his gun, helps a woman - Jill?

18:33By Oli Welsh

Neck stabbing is definitely this year's slow-motion helicopter crash.

18:33By Robert Purchese

Now they're shooting zombies. They're in a destroyed city. In Resi style, action slows as Leon aims. He's stabbing a zombie with his knife. Is this co-op? A horde of zombies charging down a corridoor.

18:34By Robert Purchese

Wow! Splat! One big shot clears the lot in a gory mess. Was that a quick-time melee moment?

18:34By Robert Purchese

18:35By Robert Purchese

He's trying to outrun an explosion now, dodging through stationary vehicles. Now he's clambering over them. How athletic. Now he's done a classic action-film leap into a helicopter and he's shaking off pursuing zombies.

Lunastra78 says:

The throatstab is the new headshot

18:36By Tom Bramwell

Presumably he's going to find a hidden emblem in this helicopter which he can later use to open a door hidden in a gravestone.

18:37By Robert Purchese

The helicopter's in trouble - it looks like the pilot has turned zombie. The chopper scrapes a train, crashes through an office. The pair are flung from the wreckage and surrounded by zombies. "Not my lucky day," Leon quips.

18:38By Robert Purchese

18:39By Robert Purchese

She's using a slingshot to attack a castle. She says launch and then coaxes the ball towards the castle. It's a points-scoring game - you're awarded better numbers the more damage you do. She's really excited but no one in the audience seems to be.

18:39By Robert Purchese

Looks similar!

munki83 says:

Angry birds 3D ?

18:39By Robert Purchese

It's launching on Xbox Live this summer.

18:39By Robert Purchese

Now we're seeing Obsidian's South Park RPG. Cartman's narrating.

18:40By Robert Purchese

The South Park boys are dressed as fantasy heroes. They need the New Kid to help them be saviours.

18:40By Robert Purchese

Starring... You!

18:41By Robert Purchese

All the classic South Park faces and humour is here in abundance. South Park: Stick of Truth, March 5th 2013.

18:41By Robert Purchese

It's South Park creators Matt Parker and Trey Stone!

18:41By Robert Purchese

They're making a joke about connected devices! It's genuinely funny.

18:42By Robert Purchese

They want you to feel like you're in an episode of South Park. We would not believe how hard it took to look like South Park. Turn-based JRPG-style battles screenshot.

18:43By Robert Purchese

They're joking about how they had to map out the world when they usually just cut away to different interiors.

18:43By Robert Purchese

And they're off. NO DON'T GO!

18:44By Robert Purchese

Harmonix now. Dance Central 3. It, err, looks like the other games. Look at them popping and locking and busting some moves. They're fly. It's Usher Raymond! He worked with Harmonix to design choreography for two songs. Anyone can learn the moves to his new single Scream in the game.

18:44By Robert Purchese

He's going to show us some of his much vaunted dancing. Holy cow, he's here, it's Usher on stage!!

18:45By Robert Purchese

He's got his crotch in his hands and his white sneaks on. He wants us to get up on our feet, which is going to be really difficult while trying to live text report.

18:46By Robert Purchese

My head's bopping automatically. I spotted a Michael Jackson dance move there. They're running through the routine that you'll get to learn. All hands in the air, turns and gyration. He's a good mover.

18:46By Robert Purchese

This is Usher madness! Sorry, I couldn't resist.

18:47By Robert Purchese

"If you want to scream" seem like very appropriate lyrics.

18:48By Robert Purchese

Dance Central 3 is on the screen behind him, going through the same routine. Smoke plumes! I wonder if Phil Spencer is dancing. I can't see him.

18:49By Tom Bramwell

Words I never really expected to hear during this conference: "Let's give it up once again for Usher and his crew."

18:49By Robert Purchese

Don Mattrick's back on stage. "At Xbox, we're ushering in a new golden age of entertainment." It's a pun. It's supposed to be funny.

18:50By Robert Purchese

He's talking about Xbox 360 as an entertainment hub, as we thought he might. "And this is only the beginning." Closing with another blockbuster. Once again, all new content will launch on Xbox 360. It's Call of Duty: Black Ops 2.

18:50By Tom Bramwell

18:51By Robert Purchese

Where's the video? We've got a still and a voice over. Oh, here we are. It's an on-stage demonstration. A man in a vehicle is in a really bad way. Madam President is in the vehicle.

18:51By Robert Purchese

They're going Downtown LA - that's where we are!

18:51By Robert Purchese

Black Ops 2 looks good - nice hues of yellow. It's smooth, too.

18:53By Robert Purchese

There's a big crash and we're crawling out of the wreckage. We're Agent Jones. Now there's fighting and gunfire everywhere and we're clambering across a destroyed bridge in the midst of it all. We've taken control of what looks like an AA gun. We're shooting bogeys out of the sky. Gameplay is impressively smooth here. It's worth saying that again.

18:55By Robert Purchese

We're providing cover fire with a sniper rifle. We're shooting through cover using our nifty scope to pick out targets. You can apparently pick people out a long way away. How will this work in multiplayer?

18:56By Robert Purchese

"In the interest of time..." The words appear on the screen and we're at a different section of gameplay. More frantic helicopter shooting, and barking orders down comms.

18:57By Robert Purchese

It's a nice demo but it's not particularly exciting. Is it worrying that Microsoft doesn't have a big exclusive to close its conference with?

18:59By Robert Purchese

More sniping using the scope that can pick out enemies behind cover. A whole building is coming down in front of us! And we fade out. We return in the aftermath. We're going to "Use" a fighter plane.

19:00By Robert Purchese

The character has never flown one before. But up, up and away we go. It's an FA38. We're tracking and protecting a car, highlighted in green on the ground before us. Doesn't look particularly difficult to fly this plane. What a lot of brown.